| Harking back to "stock
footage fests" of yore like The Bugs
Bunny/Road Runner Movie, Toho’s The
Gransazers: Super Battle Memory is sadly
one of the more slapdash movies from the company,
possibly ever. Where as the Justirisers
release at this same time, also with the “Super
Battle Memory” suffix, was merely an interview
session with the cast, it was decided that the
Gransazers feature would actually be
a narrative story and another entry in the cannon
of the series. Bringing back director Hiromi Munemoto,
responsible for the first episode of the show
along with numerous others, and longtime series
writers Toshimichi Okawa and Hakase Ishii, Toho
seems to have at least kept this feature in good
hands. Unfortunately, the movie plays out like
a bad “clip show”, featuring a weak
storyline to connect it all, while not allowing
characters or acting to make any sort of impression
and, to add insult to injury, features a stock
soundtrack that rounds out this disappointing
endeavor by the company.
In terms of plot, the movie starts
out with Tenma Kudo checking his cell phone, while
in the midst of reminiscing about his past adventures,
as he receives a mysterious text message. Word
spreads as Tenma and the other Sazers, along with
Archaeologist Ichiro Horiguchi, meet at the designated
location fearing the worst. As it turns out, though,
the message was merely from Taippei Mikami who
has arranged a surprise party for the group. However,
the festivities are cut short by a noise outside
as everyone rushes out to witness the Cloud Dragon’s
return to Earth, as the Gransazers’ powers
are needed once again.
If the story sounds simplistic,
short and corny, that’s because it is. Normally,
at least on the more recent reviews, I try to
leave out spoilers. However, in this case there
isn’t enough of a story to do otherwise
as the movie is, literally, about 85% stock footage
from the show. The movie does have a purpose though,
beyond a vehicle for a reunion of the principal
characters, as it does establish the return of
the Sazers, who disbanded and went into a, more
or less, forced “retirement” at the
end of episode 51 when the Cloud Dragon left the
planet. Unfortunately, the film does little to
work with this concept, as the flying mech is
literally brought into the story in the final
two minutes and the film cuts out just as the
Sazers are transforming. So yes, to make it clear,
they stay in their normal “form” throughout
the duration of the movie, minus the overdose
of reminiscing ala stock footage that is occurring.
Now I can imagine, this being
a direct-to-video release, that the production
was likely given a miniscule budget; however,
I don’t
think it’s too much to ask for at least
something that could be comparable to a regular
episode from the show. As it stands, this movie
is the worst thing in the continuity of the
series, even surpassing the show’s own
clip show episode, 25. This is most disappointing
too as there was some good potential for some
interesting storylines here, especially considering
that the Bosquito, an enemy from the show, are
the main adversaries in Super
Fleet Sazer-X the Movie: Fight! Star Soldiers (2005).
No such luck, though, and considering that
the new footage amounts to little more than
around 10 minutes, this whole story could easily
have been placed inside the Sazer-X feature
without much work, and would have done wonders
to pad out the theatrical film’s very
short running time of only 70 minutes (the
same as this movie). However, no dice, as
this narrative is left to stand on its own
with horrendous results.
In regards to character development,
well there really isn’t enough new material
here to write anything about in lengths. Yes,
it’s nice to see the crew from the show
back again, but they don’t get to do much,
even taking into consideration the dismal amount
of new footage present. The most disappointing
aspect, though, is that almost nothing, save a
throwaway line, is done to reflect on the relationship
of Naoto Matsuzaka and Ryoko Amemiya, especially
since this is the first time the audience has
seen the pair since their marriage at the end
of the show. Even when together the movie keeps
interaction between the two to a minimum, as if
their relationship hadn’t changed at all
since before the final episode of the show. Even
more unfortunate, though, is that despite appearing
prominently on the cover Logia does not appear
in this movie outside of stock footage. Something
which is sure to disappoint a number of fans considering
that for many he was the best aspect of the series.
Of course, given the lack of material
to work with, it should come as no surprise that
the acting performances do little to stand out.
In fact, a few of the recurring cast members don’t
seem particularly excited to be working on the
movie either, although at least this doesn’t
lead to any cringe worthy moments. It’s
interesting to see how the cast has changed, physically,
since the show’s closure in 2003, though.
A lot of the actors, for example, have a great
deal more hair or have changed hair color since
the show’s run, particularly Hideaki Serizawa
and Soji Masaki, the latter of which is guaranteed
to make any fan of the show do a double take the
first time they see him.
As for the music, Yasuharu Takanashi’s
themes are, as always, energetic and pleasant,
as is the title song by Yuya Asaoka and Eddy Blues;
however, it’s all stock here without anything
new for the movie to tout about. Now granted,
the same could be said of most episodes in the
show as well, so I guess one can’t complain
too much as Takanashi’s music certainly
does liven up the material a little. Although,
at the same time, it certainly would have been
nice to see some new themes from the composer
to try and make this feature at least a little
less forgettable.
In closing, even “true fans”
of the show are better off skipping this movie.
It’s nice to see the cast together again,
but this feature gives them little to work with
and is a wasted effort at bringing any sort of
meaning to this reunion event that had so much
potential following the two year gap since the
show’s finish.
|
(0.5/5)